LINGUIST List 7.696

Thu May 16 1996

Confs: Language Origins; Inside NPs

Editor for this issue: Anthony M. Aristar <aristartam2000.tamu.edu>

We'd appreciate your limiting conference announcements to 150 lines,
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PLEASE POST AND/OR FORWARD THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
TO LISTS OR INDIVIDUALS WHO MAY BE INTERESTED
The 1996 Annual Meeting of the Language Origins Society
July 11-15, 1996
You are invited to attend the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Language Origins
Society. The meeting will begin at approximately 1:00 p.m. on July 11 and end
at approximately 1:00 p.m. on July 15 at UMBC (University of Maryland
Baltimore County). The five day program will include papers on all aspects of
the origins and evolution of spoken, written, and signed languages. What we
know about evolutionary, developmental, social, and linguistic processes
places severe constraints upon plausible scenarios for the origins and
evolution of language, and several papers will be explicitly concerned with
defining these constraints. As in past LOS meetings and consistent with its
multidisciplinary character, a broad range of disciplines will be represented.
The program is co-sponsored by UMBC and by the following UMBC academic
departments: Ancient Studies, Biology, English, History, Interdisciplinary
Studies, Modern Language and Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, and
Sociology and Anthropology.
A keynote lecture in honor of the late Jan Wind, founder of the LOS, will
be presented by Stevan Harnad, editor of the journal, BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN
SCIENCES, and co-editor, with Steklis and Lancaster, of the seminal volume,
"Origins and evolution of language and speech" (ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES, No. 280, 1976). Robert R. Provine of the UMBC Department of
Psychology will speak on laughter as an approach to the mechanisms and
evolution of vocal production, perception and social behavior, following upon
work presented in AMERICAN SCIENTIST (1996, Vol. 84, 38-45).
Preliminary Program
Jan Wind Memorial Lecture: From praxis to pantomime to propositions:
Communicative continuum or cognitive hurtles?
Stevan Harnad (Southampton, UK)
Invited Lecture: Laughter in humans and chimpanzees: Insights into language
evolution
Robert Provine (Baltimore, MD, USA)
The role of language - Robin Allott (Seaford, E. Sussex, UK)
Three branches of the Cro-Magnon protolanguage - Nicholas D. Andreyev (St.
Petersburg, Russia)
The complexity criterion in linguistics - Bernard H. Bichakjian (Nijmegen, The
Netherlands)
Language as an evolutionary product of cognition - Angelo Cangelosi (Genoa,
Italy) and Domenico Parisi (Rome, Italy)
A systematic language and notation for the natural sciences: An emerging
hypothesis - Jerry L. R. Chandler (Bethesda, MD, USA)
Right-left cerebral asymmetry: Innateness, experience, adaptation - Tatiana V.
Chernigovskaya (St. Petersburg, Russia)
A possible "ideal structure" in Latin, Old Irish, & Old English - Robert
Payson Creed (Amherst, MA, USA)
Ontogenetic integration of the affective and linguistic components of speech:
Cerebral dominance inversion as a cause of speech pathology - Elena S.
Dmitrieva and Kira A. Zaitseva (St. Petersburg, Russia)
The communication rubicon: Signal to symbol - Mary LeCron Foster (Berkeley,
CA, USA)
Comparative semantics - Robert Davy Green (Punaauia, Tahiti, French Polynesia)
Some methodological problems in linguistic taxonomy and reconstructions - Eric
de Grolier (Paris, France)
On irrational rationalism - G bor Gyri (Pecs, Hungary)
Is Wittgenstein's private language argument relevant to theories of the origin
of language? - Roger Harris (London, UK)
Language capacities ca 40,000-27,000 BP - Gordon Hewes (Boulder, CO, USA)
Natural selection and language origins - Harry J. Jerison (Los Angeles, CA,
USA)
Social networks and the emergence of overt distinctions - Christer Johansson
(Lund, Sweden)
The evolution of language: Some problems in cross-disciplinary analysis -
Michael W. Katzko (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Dialectical difference in Arabic word order - Chad D. Nilep (Tempe, AZ, USA)
Possible social motor activities of Homo Erectus - Stedman B. Noble
(Washington, DC, USA)
Saussure's Precipitate Principle I and an ameliorative amendment - Julius
Nyikos (Washington, PA, USA)
The legacy of Herder in Heidegger's language origin theory - Achim Oberst
(Montreal, Canada)
An "acoustic-signature" model of early speech evolution - Michael J. Owren
(Portland, OR, USA)
Modeling paleo-speech with motherese - Elizabeth H. Peters (Tallahassee, FL,
USA)
Evidence for changes in diet, food preparation, and distribution: Implications
for changes in hominid social organization and communication - Sonia Ragir
(Staten Island, NY, USA)
Why people can pronounce so many different sounds: A conflict theory of the
genealogy of human vocal diversity - Bruce Richman (Cleveland Heights, OH,
USA)
Semantic encoding: Unique to humans - Leonard Rolfe (Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK)
Affect and the evolution of language: A comparative study - Daniel Shanahan
(Jouy-en-Josas, France)
Programming languages, their reality and origins, and what that can tell us
about natural language origins - Georgi Stojanov (Skopje, Macedonia)
Why look to gesture - William C. Stokoe (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA)
Ernst Cassirer on language origins - Gerhild Tesak (Dresden, Germany)
"Primitive language" in language breakdown - Jrgen Tesak (Dresden, Germany)
Auditory processing against the background activity of speech-formatting and
vocalization systems of the human brain: An analysis on the basis of an
evolutionary approach - Inna A. Vartanian (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Language and environment - William S. Verplanck (Knoxville, TN, USA)
Etymological phonosemantics and glossogonic research - Stanislav V. Voronin
(St. Petersburg, Russia)
Description, command and the evolutionary function of language - Dennis P.
Waters (Princeton, NJ, USA)
*******************
Registration
The standard registration fee for the 1996 LOS Conference will be US $50
(US $30 for students). This fee will include the entire academic program as
well as a Welcome Reception on Thursday evening and a special LOS Dinner on
Sunday evening. For those interested in attending a single day's session, the
registration fee will be $15. The single day fee is for sessions only. There
will be an additional charge for the Welcome Reception on Thursday and the LOS
dinner on Sunday.
Housing
Arrangements have been made for campus lodging and meals. The cost to
stay on campus is US $20 per night for single rooms in 4-room apartments that
have a common area, bathroom, and kitchen. Conditional upon room
availability, arrangements can be made for arrival before July 10 and
departure after July 15. The campus meal plan will be available during the
meeting for approximately US $18 per day (three meals). Optional off-campus
(hotel) housing and meals are available for meeting attendees.
For those wishing to stay off campus, several hotels are located 10 to 15
minutes from UMBC. Transportation from hotels to campus is not provided, but
taxi service is available. Arrangements have been made at the following
hotels, which should be contacted directly to make reservations: Holiday Inn
BWI (rate $71), at 1 410 859-8400; and Susse Chalet BWI (rate $51), at 1 410
859-2333; be sure to mention UMBC and the LOS Meeting when calling.
Transportation
By Air: The Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) is located 7
miles from the UMBC campus. Limousine and Taxi Service is available on the
lower level, near the baggage claim area (the taxi ride from BWI to UMBC is
$10-$15).
Attendees arriving at Washington National Airport or Dulles Airport will
have a one-hour ride on the Baltimore Shuttle, which offers limousine service
to any point in Baltimore. The best way to travel to UMBC, however, is by
train. Take the Washington Flier from the airport to the Washington Amtrak
station (US $8 from National; US $16 from Dulles.) This train runs every 30
minutes from 5:20 am until 10:20 pm. From the Amtrak Station the Marc Train
to BWI Airport leaves every half hour until 10 pm (cost US $4.50). From BWI,
the UMBC campus is a short taxi ride away.
By Train: Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station is located in downtown
Baltimore, a 20-minute taxi ride from campus. An alternate destination is the
BWI Amtrak Station, just 10 minutes from campus (not all trains stop at the
BWI Station).
By Car: From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to exit
47B, Route 166. Follow the signs to UMBC.
From Baltimore City and north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B, Route
166. Follow the signs to UMBC.
From I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) take exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue
one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC on the left.
Information
Additional detailed information and directions to the campus will be
provided with confirmation of your registration. Directions to UMBC and
campus information are available on the internet (http://www.umbc.edu/).
Registration
The UMBC Conference Center can accept Mastercard or Visa.
1) By phone: 1 410 455-2336
2) By FAX: 1 410 455-1074
3) By email to: bartholoumbc.edu
4) By mail with credit card information or check to:
UMBC Continuing Education
5401 Wilkens Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21228-5398
For additional information, contact Brian Bartholomay at the above address or
via email at: bartholoumbc.edu
END OF ANNOUNCEMENT
-
A. Charles Catania Phone: 1-410-455-2973 or -2426
Department of Psychology Dept: 1-410-455-2567
University of Maryland Baltimore County Fax: 1-410-455-1055
Baltimore, MD 21228-5398 USA Email: CATANIAUMBC.EDU

Andrea Moro
DIPSCO - Istituto Scientifico H San Raffaele, Milano
May 14 1996
"Inside NPs"
Dear Colleagues,
we are glad to inform you that the program of the "Inside NPs" conference
has been confirmed. You find the program below together with a brief
description of the aim of the conference. For a list of hotels and for
specific information on how to reach S. Raffaele, send an e-mail to
dipscodibit.hsr.it
The aim of "Inside NPs" is to discuss a specific aspect of the
syntax of these constituents, namely the presence/absence of "clausal
structures" within them. More specifically, we would like to discuss the
similarities and differences between NPs and clausal structures focusing on
predication, inverse structures, conditions on extraction, the relation
between functional and lexical heads, theta-role assignment, expletives and
agreement.
The workshop is intended to provide a discussion between linguists
and aphasiologists on the specific aspect of the aphasia of proper names
and related issues.
Symposium: Inside NPs - clausal structures within NPs
Istituto S. Raffaele, Aula Newton
Via Olgettina 58, Milano
June 27 Thursday
13:30 - 14:00
Massimo Piattelli Palmarini (DIPSCO): a welcome message
14:00 - 15:00
Giorgio Graffi (University of Udine): historical overview of the issue
15:30 - 16:30
Giuseppe Longobardi (University of Venice): the syntax of N-raising
17:00 - 18:00
Gennaro Chierchia (University of Milan): on the distribution of bare
NPs in English and Italian
June 28 Friday
9:30 - 10:30
Guglielmo Cinque (University of Venice): on nominal functional projections
10:45 - 11:45
Giuliana Giusti (University of Venice): are there TopicP and FocusP inside
the DP?
12:00 - 13:00
Marcel Den Dikken (HIL - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): predicate
inversion inside the nominal phrase
15:00 - 16:00
Roberto Zamparelli (University of Rochester): syntactic layers and semantic
interpretation in the NP
16:30 17:30
Richard Kayne (Harvard University): Prepositions as Complementizers
Workshop: theory of proper names and aphasia
June 29 Saturday
9:00 - 9:45
Marco Santambrogio (University of Cagliari): the semantics of proper
names. A survey.
10:00 - 10:45
Giuseppe Longobardi (University of Venice): common nouns and proper names
11:00: 11:45
Gennaro Chierchia (University of Milan): bare nouns as names of kinds
12:00 - 12:45
Carlo Semenza (University of Padua) - Marina Zettin (Maria
Ausiliatrice Hospital, Torino): the neuropsychology of proper
names
12:45 13:15
Massimo Piattelli Palmarini (DIPSCO): comments on the talks
No fees are requested for participation. To have a list of hotels and to
have specific information on how to reach S. Raffaele, send an e-mail to
dipscodibit.hsr.it